Once In A Lifetime
by lockandkey55
Summary: Ally is a recent cancer survivor who starts back at school after 3 years in the hospital. What happens when her ex-Bestfriend and former "bully" suddenly wants to befriend her again and take back the horrible things he did to her in middle school? Is he guilty? Sorry? Or does he all of a sudden feel a new sense of desire for the girl? I do not own Austin and Ally *"M" for later*
1. Anticipation

Ally sat on the edge of her bed, eager for the day that lied ahead. Sure it was just 6:00 in the morning and school didn't start for another 3 hours, but she had been waiting for that day for what felt like forever. Today was finally her first day back at school after her nearly 3 year battle with cancer.

She was diagnosed when she was in the eighth grade and right off the bat things had gotten really bad. So bad that she wasn't even allowed to go to school; but three years, many surgeries, a few rounds of chemo-therapy and one modern medicine miracle later she was on her way to a full recovery, and on her way to her Junior year of high school.

The only person from school she had seen during those three years had been her best friend Trish. Trish was a fun, hard headed, and very loud person to be around, but it was that very outgoing personality that Ally loved in her best friend and also that which helped keep her spirits up as she spent countless days in the same mono-colored hospital room with the same annoying machine beeping every 3.2 seconds, she knew because she counted numerous times.

Ally was anticipating the day awaiting her and the people she would see. Especially one in particular, Austin Moon. They had been best friends years ago, but that all changed when they got to middle school and he wanted to try and befriend a group of guys who were notorious for getting in trouble and pulling pranks, Ally saw them as cruel but Austin saw them as the "cool" kids and soon Ally saw her best friend transform from an innocent sixth grader to a troublemaker, which immediately ruined their friendship. One day during their eighth grade year Austin continued his antics with his target that day set on Ally, little did he know that the glimpse of his former best friend face-planted in the ground sobbing was going to be the last he saw of her, because that day also happened to be Ally Dawson's last day and the day she was diagnosed.


	2. First Day Of School

"Ally?" A voiced said following a knock on her door which slowly crept open to reveal her moms Penny Dawson's beautiful face. Ally had always thought of her mom as beautiful and even the wear and stress present in her moms eyes from the previous years added to her beauty. She had done so much for Ally in those last years, she never left her side and quite possible never slept, or at least that's what it felt like to Ally, her mom definitely deserved a break, which Ally hoped she would have today from 9-4.

Ally sat on the floor of her room in a tank top and sweats surrounded by pretty much her entire closet. "MOM! I HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR!" Ally exclaimed worriedly.

"Honey," Penny said softly, "Yes you do, It's just not hung up all nicely in your closet like it was last night." The two hugged each other and laughed softly. "What about this?" Penny asked pulling a black lace skirt from the piling of clothing. "With this top?" Ally asked gesturing to a blush colored sheer sleeveless shirt, now excited to be picking out her clothes again. "That'll be perfect" she told her daughter, "Now hurry, Trish will be here soon to take you to school."

And as if on cue Trish comes barging through the door in a very bright hot pink top leopard leggings shrieking and jumping up and down repeating "AHHHHH! I'm SO excited ALLY! AHHH!" Ally joined in and the two best friends were finally going to start high school together.

Ally got dressed and paired her outfit with a pair of black wedges and silver earrings. She did natural looking makeup and curled her hair which had recently grown down to just between her shoulders and chin. "You ready ally?" Trish yelled from the hallway. Ally took one last look in the mirror flashed a huge smile before quietly saying "Oh Yeah!"

The car ride to school was filled with Trish going on and on about classes and teachers and the students, while Ally nervously placed her hands around the scars on her forearm. With the many surgeries she had different scars were found in different place around her body. The worst and biggest being down her back and on her hips, with little ones on both forearms and both knees. Although her scars on her forearms were a very light shade of pink and very small, she started to become more self-conscious about them the closer she got to the school.

As Ally and Trish approached the school parking lot, Trish blabbering about how annoying Dez still is, Ally noticed how different everyone looked, familiar face now looked grown up and the knot in her stomach tightened even more. They walked through the parking lot into the doors of the main office catching glimpses from the handful of students they passed.

"Hello Ma'am," Ally said approaching the lady at the front desk, "My names Allyson Dawson, This is my first day." The lady looked up from her computer with tired eyes,"Sweetie this is everyone's first day, it is the first day of school you know." the lady stated in a mono toned voice "I know" ally said slowly, "But it is my first day here ever and I didn't receive a schedule over the summer." Ally informed her, "Oh yes, you're the..." The Lady said immediately regretting what almost came out of her mouth. Ally sighed and rolled her eyes "Yes I'm the girl that had cancer," she had heard it many times before and knew she would hear it many times today, "I would just like my schedule." she stated with a polite smile on her face. The lady handed her an entire packet filled with her schedule, a map of the school, the bell schedule and a calendar. Ally left the office with a "Thank you" and a nod to the lady. Trish demanded to see Ally's schedule but was disappointed to find that they only had 3 out of 8 classes together.

The two girls walked side by side happy that they at least had first period together. 1 reason being Ally totally would've gotten lost and 2. being that she couldn't have taken the stare and whispers without someone by her side. The whispers filled the hallway and the only thing Ally could hear was "That's Ally Dawson" "She had cancer," as if this was new news to everyone.

Trish led Ally to their first period Music class. Music was Ally's absolute favorite thing, her parents owned an awesome music store that was soon to be franchised all across the United States. Music was one of the only thing that kept her sane during her extended stint in the hospital. As they walked into the class room they noticed the tables were arranged with four chairs two on each side. They went to a completely empty table towards the middle of the classroom, both girls sitting on the same side right next to each other. More students filled in to the class room until the only empty seats were the two right across from Ally and Trish. The bell rang and the teacher said "This is a full class so girls, those two empty seat will be filled when out tardies show up." The door then eased open ,which was to Ally and Trish's backs, and the last two students filed in, "Boys, please take a seat at that table" The Teacher told them gesturing to the table occupied by Ally and Trish. The girls never turned to see who would be sitting with them, they were to into their conversation and decided they'd wait till they sat down in front of them.

Suddenly a tall goofy red head, Ally recognized as Dez, plopped into the seat across from Trish, causing her to sigh and roll her eyes, Ally giggled at her best friend and was too busy watching Trish and Dez to notice the still mystery man who was going to sit across from her, that was until the gorgeous blond sat down and right across from her and for the first time in three years Ally Dawson was face-to-face with non-other than THE Austin Moon, who's face looked like he had just seen a ghost.


	3. Kill him with Kindness

"Hello Austin," Ally said cheerily noticing the regret that filled Austins eyes. "Uhh.. Hi... Uhh... Ally," was all Austin managed to choke out, he had managed to keep Ally Dawson far from his thoughts for the past 3 years not wanting to admit to himself the total ass he was to her in middle school. He never thought he would be sitting right across from his once-best-friend-turned-enemy-sudden-cancer-victim that was the one and only Ally Dawson. He felt guilty for everything he did to her, the bullying, not staying friends with her, and not manning up to go see her while she suffered in the hospital for 3 damn years. He was mad at himself for the things he had done and he was also mad that it took him till this moment to realize just how beautiful Ally Dawson was but he also knew that he was going to have to push that down, he knew that he was going to need to stay as far from Ally Dawson as possible.

"It's okay Austin, It's not like I'm contagious or anything," Ally giggled out "I'm actually in remission awaiting my full recovery." All Austin could do was nod to her, eyes still very wide. She knew he felt guilty about things that had happened, but honestly she was over it she saw no need in holding grudges, she knew he was shocked to have seen her, and she also knew her present was making Austin nervous and uncomfortable and by the look on his face he was ready to bolt out the door. She couldn't let that happen, of course she wasn't still mad at him for the things that had happened in middle school, but he didn't know that she liked seeing Austin nervous, and she was going to have a lot of fun getting revenge on Austin Moon, her mom always told her to "Kill them with Kindness" which was exactly what she was going to do.

Both Austin and Ally were pulled from their thoughts by the loud voice of their music teacher. "Hello everyone, welcome to music class, My name is Mr. Cooper," he chimed, "This is not going to be an easy class, contrary to belief, we are going to work from now till the last day of class so be prepared to no the in and outs of all aspects of music by the time you leave here." Neither Austin nor Ally were worried about what Mr. Cooper had just informed them of, they both lived for music. "Today we will start your first group projects,you will be working with the people sitting at your table with you," "Great" Austin mumbled rolling his eyes. "Great!" Ally whispered to herself menacingly grinning.

Mr. Cooper walked around class handing out work sheets. "I want every group to create a music video. All four people will have a different job to make sure that the assignment gets completed. One of you will direct the video," "DIBS!" Dez called out to our group, "Another person will be in charge of making sure that everything runs smoothly, almost like a manager" "MINE!" Trish informed the 4 of us, "The other two will have to work together more than any of the others," Austin shook his head almost in protest. "One of you is going to write the song, the other is going to perform the song in the video. Now please start planning it's due next week."

"Sooo..." Austin let out slowly. "Why don't we get together today after school," Trish suggested, "We could go to Ally's house, she has a great music room." Austin looked up "Uhhhh-" until he was cut off by a much to perky Ally, "Perfect! I would love to have you guys over." Ally chimed. She had only had one friend come to her house in the past 3 years and that was Trish so she was excited to have people over, even if it was Dez, who she actually was starting to like, and Austin, who didn't seem to thrilled with the idea, which made Ally's plans just a little better.

"Hey Mom! I'm home!" Ally chimed as she walked into the house to the smell of homemade cookies in the oven. "Aww, What's this for?" ALly questioned as her mom was surround in baking sheets all over the kitchen filled with cookies, brownies, and cupcakes. "I've had so much time on my hands today I decided to make you a little after school snack." Penny answered excitedly. "Mom this looks like more than just a little," "I know, I just wasn't sure which one you would like better so I made all 3." Ally now had a cookie, "Well it's a good thing i have friends coming over, I'm sure not all of this will go to waste." Ally said nonchalantly. "You have friends coming over!? Honey this is great. Who is it? Is there anything i need to do? IS it a boy? Oh sweetheart how wonderful!" Penny exclaimed, "Mom, Its just Trish, Dez and Austin, it's no big deal either we are just working on a project."

The doorbell then rang and Ally rushed to the door motioning to her mom to 'go'. Ally opened the door to reveal Trish and Dez bickering, "Hey Ally!" they said in unison. "Hey guys, Have you heard from Aus-" and suddenly the blonde boy appeared on Ally's porch, She had forgotten just how hot he had gotten during those 3 years from the time she saw him last in class and now. He really was good-looking and the sun shining in his gorgeous blonde hair made Ally want to run her hands through it. But she knew she couldn't do that, so instead she said "Hello Austin please come in!" He kept his head low but smiled a weird smile at her, she was going to have so much fun torturing him.

Austin stepped into the house after Ally's all to happy greeting. Did she know how much her niceness was killing him? She was gorgeous, and smart, and funny and Austin had treated her like crap. Why was she being so nice to him, he wondered. Did she know how badly she was torturing him?


	4. But Not From You

Ally led the group through the house and upstairs to her gigantic music room. "Whoa!" Austin exclaimed, and that was the first time Ally saw him smile since she had seen him, and that caused her to smile as well. The room had every almost every instrument you could think of hanging on the wall or sitting on stands in the corner, there was also a small recording booth which Ally had sometimes recorded songs on.

They all sat on the floor in a circle while Trish and Dez admired the awkwardness that they could feel in the air. Ally had her most prized possession her song book with her hoping that she would be brave enough to show everyone the things she had written and allow them to be used for the project. The awkward silence was broken finally by Dez, "I'm hungry, I think I'm going to go grab one of those cupcakes I saw down stairs." he said, "I think I'll go with him," Trish said, "You know how he can be. Don't want the bozo messing up your house Ally, but while we're gone why don't you two begin deciding what song we are going to do." Trish said with a wink towards Ally before her and Dez hurried out the door.

"So why don't we get started?" Ally suggested, "Yeah.. Uhh.. Sure why not." Austin barely managed to say. "Okay Austin, I've had enough of this," She said pointing back and forth from herself to Austin, "I expected this shit from everyone else, but seriously not from you." "What do you mean?" Austin said defensively but he knew she was right. "This!" She motioned between them, "This stand-offish, guilty, sorry shit you keep acting like." She was angry and Austin knew it, he never pegged Ally Dawson to be one to cuss. "Austin, I expected you to be real with me. I honestly didn't think you would be one to treat me different just because I had cancer. Seriously Moon where's that annoying eighth grader that used to make it his duty to torture me?" she said on the verge of tears. "Some crazy girl decided to run off and get cancer which made that annoying eighth grader realize what an ass he really was." Austin said with a hand under Ally's chin. "But he is still willing to make your life hell if thats what your asking." Austin said jokingly. "Now that's the Austin Moon I remember, especially when he was my friend." Ally said softly leaning into Austin slowly. He began to lean down too wanting to meet her half way. Austin wanted to forget about the last 3 years heck even the last 5 years and go back to when him and Ally were close, and he knew just how to do that.

As their faces were just inches apart Ally wanted to kiss Austin, wrap her arms around his neck and run her fingers through his hair, her thoughts were cut short by the feeling of Austin's slow breaths coming closer to her face. They locked eyes and were finally going to put away this tension that had been over 3 years in the making until Ally's phone rang and Trish's name popped up on the screen.

_A-"Trish what are you doing? Aren't you just downstairs?" _

_T- "Oh sorry Ally, I forgot to tell you, Dez and i decided to go home... You know and leave you and Austin alone." _

_A- "Seriously Trish, What make you even think I would want THAT?"_

_T- "Sorry, I just thought it could possibly happen you know... Anyways I Was calling to tell you that i can't give you a ride to school tomorrow. Sorry"_

_A- "Wait Trish you can't give me a ride to school? What am I supposed to do?" _

_T- "Sorry Al, I'm sure you can find a ride... Anyways i got to go! BYE!" _

_"Wait Trish,"_ Ally exclaimed but the call had already been ended she began to lead Austin out of the room. "So sounds like you need a ride to school tomorrow, I'll pick you up at 8:30." Austin told her. "No seriously Austin, you don't have to do that." she replied, "Yes I do, remember we're supposed to be best friends," He said softly heading towards the front door. "Okay, then I guess I'll see you tomorrow Austin," she said as she watched him cross her lawn until all she could see in the night light was his hair glowing from the moon.


	5. Restart Of a Beautiful Friendship

Ally had replayed what almost happened between her and Austin a thousand times that night and the next morning. She was so nervous about having to sit an entire 5 minutes in a car with Austin Moon, considering previous events she wasn't exactly one hundred percent sure where the two of them stood, but as Austin said last night they were trying to be friends again, so friends she was going to be.

She sat on her front porch trying to read her favorite book, Pride and Prejudice, but couldn't finish a sentence because she was nervously looking up to see if every car that she could hear was Austin. It was 8:32 and she was now scared that he had forgotten about picking her up. I mean it was only 2 minutes but even after 3 years she still knew how he was, he was probably still asleep only to be rolling out of bed 10 minutes before the bell rang. She was deep into the curious life of Ms. Elizabeth Bennet, when she heard a truck pull up and then honk. Ally peeked up from the cover of her book only to notice a 10 minute late Austin still as gorgeous as always holding up a bag of doughnut holes and a bottle of chocolate milk, to this day it was still her second favorite thing to have for breakfast. Was that just a coincidence or did Austin really remember?

"I got you some of your favorites," Austin said as Ally climbed into the very new looking truck. "I mean, I know it's not french toast or pancakes, but I remembered how much you used to like these and I was hoping you still did." Not only did he remember that she liked doughnut holes but he also remembered that her absolute favorite breakfast was french toast. "Austin, this is perfect. Honestly. I love it." She opened the bag to smell the fresh glaze on the hot dough. She leaned back and sighed it was like heaven, and she wasn't just talking about the food.

The car ride was filled with some small talk, but mostly had the two savoring every bite of their doughnuts that they were to busy to talk. As they got to school Ally stayed back in the parking lot claiming she was "looking for something" while she let Austin go on ahead of her. Truthfully she just didn't want to make things with him awkward in front of the whole school just yet, and he knew that and as guilty as he felt, he wanted to respect her wishes, things were bad enough with rumors and whispering about her he didn't want to make it worse. He genuinely cared for her and it took him until now to realize, he just needed a way to show her.

The school days were long and typical for Ally but so intriguing because it was something she had to miss out on. Austin had offered to give her a ride the rest of the week because he was oddly more trustworthy than Trish, and everything started going smoothly. Until she got home Thursday afternoon.

Ally walked into the house to a very odd look on her mom's face. "Ally, sweetie," she spoke softly, "I have some news, it's not bad or anything just something that i don't think you are going to be very happy about." Ally took a seat bracing herself for the worst. "Your Doctor called today and said that he had one last procedure you needed to have done tomorrow. know it's not anything terrible, he just needs to take some tissue samples from your cheek bone area I think, so no school till Monday, recovery is only a day." Ally processed this all through her mind, she thought she was done being poked and prodded but she knew she had to do it to keep her in 100 percent.

The first thing she did after finalizing all the details with her mother was pull out her phone to text Austin and let him know.

_Al: "Hey Austin, Don't need ride tomorrow. Thanks anyways though"_

_Au: "Well damn! Why not?" _

_Al: "I have a stupid surgery like thing. No big deal though." _

_Au: "Oh... Well I hope everything goes well." _

_Al: "Thanks Austin, me too. :)" _

Austin put the phone down beside him disappointed. He was really liking getting to spend his mornings with Ally for even just 5 minutes. He loved the way her face would light up when he showed her what breakfast food he had gotten her for that day. She still acted just as surprised even though he did it everyday. As upset as he was that she wasn't going to ride with him or even be at school tomorrow he wanted everything to go well for her because he didn't want anything else to happen to her, "Because we are just friends," Austin said out loud to his empty room.

Ally was awoken the next morning by her mom's 'my daughter's having surgery today so I need to be extra happy' all to perky face. Behind her was Ally's dad Lester, who had taken to day off work to be with them today. Ally jumped out of bed, already dressed in sweat pants and a t-shirt, and she threw her hair up into a messy bun on top of her head. It was 10:00 and she had to be at the hospital to meet with her doctor at 11:00 before proceeding on with the surgery that was to take place around 12:30. She wasn't sure why she kept calling it that, it wasn't even an actual surgery, just a small simple procedure to allow her doctor to have some extra samples of some stuff, She wasn't even nervous about it.

That was until she was sitting in front of her doctor listening to how everything was going to happen. He was going to first put her to sleep, then he was going to make an incision about an inch long right under her cheek bone, from there she stopped paying attention because she was both nervous and wasn't really sure what some of the medical terminology was, even after all that time she spent in the hospital. She was pulled back into the conversation when the doctor said he would use surgical glue and then they would wait for her anesthesia to wear off.

The first thing Ally felt when she woke up was a throbbing pain on her cheek. She glanced at the clock and noticed it was almost 2:30. Before she knew it there were nurses at her side asking her all these questions while she tried to get up from the bed. "No sweetie," one of the nurses told her, "you can't leave just yet." Ally sat back sighing, all she wanted to do was get home and sleep.

It took almost another hour and a half before everything was ready for her to go home. Her face was swollen and red and all she wanted to do was go to bed. When she finally got home her parents helped her into the house. "I can take it from here," She told them tirelessly as she walked up the stairs.

Ally popped open the door to her room only to find a giant 'get well soon' card, a big teddy bear, and a beautiful bouquet of flowers in the hands of the one and only Austin Moon. She ran up and hugged him, totally ignoring the thought that she probably looked really bad.

Austin spent the rest of the day with Ally, and the rest of the weekend watching movies and talking with her while she recovered. It started to look like the "restart" of a beautiful friendship and they were both really happy about the time they had got to spend together.


	6. Attracting Stares

Austin sat in his car waiting outside Ally's house so they could go to school. It was Monday and she had just spent the weekend recovering from her surgery. Austin had also spent the weekend with Ally keeping her company while she was confined to her bed. They were both really relieved that they had gotten to spend that time together. They watched movies, listened to music, and talked a lot, about all sorts of things. He had finally learned some of the history of what happened to her while she was in the hospital. Austin sat in the car tapping his thumbs on the steering wheel as a figure approached him.

That morning Ally had woke up to find that her scar was even more red and swollen that had been. She felt so embarrassed and no amount of makeup would even help to discolor it at all. She sat in her room debating on what to do. She then decided to put on a pair of black leggings, black boots, and a pink sheer tank top and then she threw one of her dad's big black zip-up hoodie on, zipping it all the way and pulling on the hood. Ally then proceeded to pull as much of her hair in front of her face as she could as partial cover up. She topped off the look with a pair of glasses that Ally hoped would draw attention from her scar. As she walked about the house she saw Austin tapping his thumbs on the steering wheel as she approached him.

Austin looked up to notice that the figure he saw was Ally dressed in all black, doing the best she could to, as he could tell, hide her scar. She climbed in and neither of them said anything about Ally's unusual appearance, Austin just had a slight smirk on his face. Ally opened the mirror of the car in front of her face as she began to once again examine her scar, rubbing her finger over it. She felt so embarrassed and didn't want to go walking into the school only to have the entire student body staring, pointing, and whispering about her again.

They pulled into the school parking lot. As Austin pulled into a parking space and put the car in park Ally frantically started to fix her hair and glasses so that her entire face was almost completely unseen. Austin sat silently watching as Ally tried her best to hide her scar. "Ally." Austin said looking at her and pulling the hood off her head. "I know what you're doing, just stop okay?" He said soothingly as he unzipped the jacket to reveal her pink top. Austin tossed the jacket to the back seat, got out of the car and walked over to Ally's door. He opened the door and watched as she frantically tried to hide her face now that she didn't have the jacket or hood on. Austin could see the frustration on her face, and before she knew it he had moved only inches from her. "Ally," Austin said as he slowly began to slide her glasses off her face, "These are just hiding your beauty," he began to smooth out her hair. "But Austin!" Ally demanded rather loudly, "Everyone is going to stare at my scar if I don't have it mostly covered up." Ally was clearly angry. "Don't worry," Austin reassured her walking her closer towards the school doors, "As soon as we walk through those doors the last thing anyone is going to be staring at is your scar." Ally was suddenly confused until she felt Austin's big strong hand take hers and interlace his fingers with hers.

They walked through the doors and all heads turned to the hand-in-hand Austin and Ally. Ally knew everyone was whispering and staring at her, but she knew that no one even noticed her scar everyone's eyes went straight to her hand that was still holding Austin's. Austin walked Ally to her locker and waited with her as she began to gather her stuff. "See that wasn't so bad." Austin said in a 'told ya so' tone. "Thanks Austin, that meant a lot," Ally hugged him tightly, attracting more stares. They then laced hands again and proceeded to first period music together attracting a stare from every bystander.


End file.
